Deccan Herald set to enter Delhi by year-end

Karnataka-based English newspaper Deccan Herald is all set to enter the Delhi market by the end of the year 2011. The estimated Rs 1,500-crore English newspaper market is currently dominated by two major players – The Times of India and Hindustan Times. These two apart, The Hindu and The Indian Express are among the players that can give tough competition to new entrants in the market.

An official of Deccan Herald, on conditions of anonymity, said, “We are definitely going to enter Delhi market, but we still need to get into the nitty-gritties of the entire plan.”

Meanwhile, The Printers (Mysore) Pvt Ltd, the company that publishes Deccan Herald, has come up with advertisements in leading dailies for multiple vacancies for its new edition from the Capital. The newspaper requires a News Editor, Chief City Reporter, Senior Sub Editor, Senior Reporter, Sub Editor, Reporter and Sports Reporter.

As per the recent IRS data, Deccan Herald has an average issue readership of 4.23 lakh in Karnataka and is the second most popular English daily in the state after The Times of India. The newspaper has seen a growth of 37.79 per cent in its AIR, as compared to last year.

At the same time both TOI and HT have registered decline in their AIR in the Delhi region as per the recent IRS results compared to last year. Overall in Delhi, the average issue readership of English dailies has declined, with any English daily reporting an AIR of 35.02 lakh, a decline of 5.02 per cent compared to last year.

It will be interesting to see whether the 63-year- old family-owned Deccan Herald will be able to attract more readers in the city. At present Deccan Herald has editions in Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli, Mangalore, Gulbarga and Belur.